Submission HALL-1423 (Online)

The type of preferential ballot that I find appealing is rating those running for office in order of preference; I may vote first for a Liberal 3 points, secondly for the Green Party 2 points and lastly for the NDP 1 point [Borda count]. [1 page]

Thank you for the opportunity to offer my views on our current voting system. I have also commented on what I see as faults in our present governance.

The First Past The Post system works well in the US where, basically, only 2 parties are running. In Canada, with as many as 8 or 10 parties in the fray, including independents, the FPTP is an abysmal failure. Both the STV and MMP options have merits and shortcomings but both are better than what we have at present. I did not have sufficient knowledge of these options, at present, so am reluctant to recommend one over the other. The type of preferential ballot that I find appealing is rating those running for office in order of preference, i.e.. I may vote first for a Liberal - 3 points, secondly for the Green Party - 2 points and lastly for the NDP - 1
point [Borda count]. The candidate acquiring the most points is elected. I may not elect my first choice but I will probably get closer to the representation I seek than the FPTP system.

The governance system we have at present is not much more than a dictatorship - admittedly, a reasonably benevolent one. Candidates can make wild promises, - the federal liberals promised in their Red Book to drop the GST - (and some outright lies like the NDP's "balanced budget") , and the constituents can do no more than wait for the next election and hope to toss that candidate out of office. But, this takes about 4 years during which time enormous damage can be done, for example, a half billion dollar fiasco known as the Fastcats. Regardless of the electoral system used, we need a practical right of recall (for the candidate, not to refight the last election) and abandonment of the Whip system. MPs and MLAs are elected by the constituents to present the aspirations of the majority of those constituents - not blindly follow the goals of the party leader. MPs and MLAs are our employees and if they don't do their job, we should have the right to fire them just as any employer has the right to fire an employee who is not performing his/her duties.